362 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Jordan & Gilbert (1879) regarded the species called Prionotus carolinus by 

 Yarrow as probably not that species but Prionotus tribulus; they, as well as Jen- 

 kins, failed to find the fish at Beaufort. In the summer of 1903 about 25 speci- 

 mens were taken on Bird Shoal and elsewhere in Beaufort Harbor, and in Bogue 

 Sound; and in 1904 the fish was frequently. taken in June, July, and August in the 

 vicinity of the laboratory. One foot is about the maximum length of the species; 

 but the Beaufort specimens have not averaged nearly so large. The spawning 

 season is spring, and the eggs are bright orange in color. The young are abun- 

 dant in summer. 



Family CEPHALACANTHID^. The Flying Gurnards. 



This family_ is related to the TrigHdae, differing in the shape of the pectoral 

 fin, the absence of "feelers", the broad union of the gill-membranes with the 

 isthmus, the closeness together of the ventral fins, the ventral rays being i,4, as 

 well as in numerous bony characters. Body elongate, rather broad, sides flat- 

 tened; head blunt, quadrangular, nearly the entire surface bony; mouth small, 

 lower jaw included, granular teeth in jaws, no teeth on roof of mouth; bones 

 about eye united into a shield; a long bony process ending in a sharp spine 

 extending backward from the nape on each side beyond origin of dorsal fin; pre- 

 orbital projecting beyond the jaws; preopercle extending backward as- a long, 

 round spine beyond ventrals; opercle small; gill-slits narrow, gill-rakers small, 

 pseudobranchise large; body covered with small, keeled, bony scales, which occur 

 also on opercles and cheeks; 2 serrated spines at base of tail; pyloric coeca 

 numerous; air-bladder divided into 2 lateral halves; dorsal fins separated, the 

 anterior with 7 flexible spines, the posterior and anal with a few slender rays; 

 caudal rather broad; pectorals large, divided into 2 lengthwise sections, the 

 posterior part much the longer; ventrals long and pointed. The family contains 

 1 genus, with a single representative in American waters. 



Genus CEPHALACANTHUS Lac^p^de. Flying Gurnards. 



The generic characters are indicated in the family diagnosis. In the adults 

 the pectoral fins are much longer than in the young, and reach nearly to base of 

 caudal; the anterior part of the fin contains a few closely connected rays as long 

 as head; the posterior part is made up of numerous slender, unbranched rays. 

 The flying gurnards possess the power of flight like the true flying-fishes, but to a 

 much less degree. {Cephalacanthus, head spine.) 



313 CEPHALACANTHUS VOLITANS (LinnKUs). 

 "Flying-fish"; Flying-robin. 



Trigla volUans LinnEeus, Systema NaturEe, ed, x. 1, 302, 175S; Mediterranean Sea and ocean within the tropics. 

 Dactylopterus volitans, Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 372; Beaufort Harbor. 



Cephalacanthus volitans, Jordan, 1886, 28; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 91; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 

 1898, 2183, pi. cccxxiii, fig. 778. 



Diagnosis. — Depth somewhat less than .2 total length; caudal peduncle slender, its 

 depth less than diameter of eye; head short, contained about 4.5 in total length, the profile 



